Men's Heavyweight Crew

MIT Crew Competes at Eastern Sprints

May 13, 2012

WORCESTER, Mass. – MIT's heavy and lightweight crew teams both had multiple entries at the 2012 Eastern Sprints Regatta on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester. Boding well for the future of both programs, the Engineer freshman teams had the best finishes at the regatta, with the freshman lightweight team taking second in the petite final of its division.

MIT's varsity lightweight crew was a scratch, but the team also fielded a pair of freshman eight crews. In its preliminary heat, the first freshman lightweight crew finished fourth out of five boats, coming across the line just a little over a second behind the crew from Dartmouth while holding off the Penn boat by a half a second. In the petite final the Engineers battled with Penn and Columbia for the top spot, with the Quakers coming out on top this time by almost two seconds. The Lions trailed MIT by 2.5 seconds at the finish, with Georgetown taking fourth. The second freshman lightweight crew finished fourth in their race, holding off Dartmouth by a little more than a second.

In the heavyweight events, the varsity crew finished sixth in both the preliminary heat and in the third final race where the Engineers posted their fastest time of the day. The freshman heavyweight crew fared better, holding off George Washington by over eight seconds in the preliminary heat to take fifth. In a competitive third final MIT battled it out over the 2,000-meter course with crews from Holy Cross, Georgetown, George Washington, Rutgers and Penn. At the finish it was the Quakers across the line first, three seconds ahead of Georgetown and 7.8 second ahead of the Engineers. The heavyweight team also fielded a freshman 4+ crew. In that race the team finished off the pace set by the winning crew from Northeastern, taking sixth overall.